Nightmare Syndrom, I am a huge supporter of the belief that Pride is the single biggest downfall of the human race. You should read the Book of Mormon, it's sad how many nations are destroyed from that.
Yeah, I suppose that's my anvil. Some people think we should save the environment, other people say that war is bad, I say do the impossible, see the invisible, raw raw fight da powah, but don't get cocky.
Collective Heraklinos, excellent analysis, especially the side that isn't Glid.
Colin, that's my other anvil, one that I'm doing with much more subtlety. God is there, but he wants us to pull our hands out of our asses and solve the problem with our own efforts. Maybe he'll help, maybe he won't, but what matters is that he sure as hell isn't going to waltz on stage and solve everything, or else there just isn't any point.
Cowgirl, methinks that means I'm doing my job right.
Feith, that means I'm not doing my job right.
Now, side note. Most of you read my Stay Awake With Me. I'm considering doing more of that, kind of like an OVA series. What do you all think?
-}+{-
It's like in the great stories, Lelouch; the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end... because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was, when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines, it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you, that meant something, even if you were too small to understand why.
Lelouch slept.
He was almost like a child as he slept on C.C.'s lap, and she set there, stroking his hair.
"I know he's hurt." Mew said. "I'll give you time. What do you want me to do?"
C.C. closed her eyes.
What would Lelouch do..?
"Tear Red apart." She said. "And have Suzaku walk with Death."
Mew looked at her.
"Red needs to know pain, to have his soul bared and torn apart, if he's going to survive in there." C.C. explained. "Suzaku needs to lose his lust for death. He needs to know that life is worth living and worth saving, and that Death cares."
Mew thought about it.
"I can take Suzaku to Death." he said. "But Lelouch will have to bring him back."
C.C. nodded. "We'll meet you with Red." She said. "And get your allies to meet the other Geass users. They need guidance. Hopefully some may join us."
Mew nodded, turning into a pink light and leaving the witch and the warlock on the grass.
Lelouch stood in a stadium's battle arena.
He faced himself.
Lelouch was his opponent.
"Lelouch Vi Britannia." The other Lelouch said. "Do not allow your emotions nor your body's weakness stop you, nor make you hesitate when faced with a decision or in the need of action. Adapt plans as needed, but otherwise carry out every decision you make unless new information occurs that makes you rethink the situation."
"Do not give into despair when plans fail or the worst possible scenario turns out to be better than the current unforeseen circumstance." The other Lelouch continued. "Adapt the situation to your own ends- when you enter hell, conquer it and turn it into heaven. Thrive on the edge of defeat, snatch victory from impossible odds each time."
Lelouch opened his eyes wide as the Geass he placed upon himself took effect.
"Achieve peace on Earth, goodwill to all men."
Lelouch stood pushed himself up.
"Better?" C.C. asked him.
"I'll manage." Lelouch replied. "My brain just needed a moment to catch up."
He looked into his hands, flexing his fingers as he stood up.
Darkness danced between his fingers.
"Lelouch-" C.C. began, but he brought a finger to her lips.
"Give me a moment to learn how to do this." He told her. "I'm plotting."
"Lelouch." She repeated, and he turned around.
"My name's Sierra." She said. "You should know."
Lelouch nodded. "Thank you." He said, turning back around and sitting in the grass.
He turned the black chess piece in his hand as the thought.
Sierra lay on the grass, watching the sky as Lelouch sat, thinking.
Racking his mind for ideas, plots, anything that could help him.
Eventually, the clouds gathered, as if about to rain.
"Lelouch." She said, but there was no response.
Sierra sighed, then sat up.
She couldn't.
The air was too heavy.
She rolled over in the grass and looked at Lelouch.
There were lines in the air.
As if reality itself was shaking just to be near him.
As if it were trying to escape his dark thoughts.
Nasty Plot.
A move that increases the user's Special Attack stat by its initial value.
Using it once would double Lelouch's special attack.
Using it twice would triple it.
Three times and he would be quadruple his power.
How long had Lelouch been plotting for to get this powerful?
Lelouch stood up. "Let's move." He said.
"You've thought of a plan?" Sierra asked.
"I've thought of several." He said. "This is one is the best I have."
He told her the plan.
It wasn't a very good one.
Compared to what Lelouch was capable of, it was a pathetic strategy with thousands of holes for the enemy to exploit.
But then he told her his other plans.
Lelouch wasn't being lazy.
It was, literally, their best plan.
Lelouch walked up the staircase to the rooftop and found Suzaku. "I thought I'd find you here." He said.
"What, in the house of Death?" Suzaku replied.
"On the roof." Lelouch clarified. He knew where he'd be. "How've you been?"
"Been shovelling shit since I got here." Suzaku said with half a laugh. "You?"
"Quite good." Lelouch lied, smirking to stop himself from showing fear. "I have a plan."
"Wasn't it you that said that we'd lost?"
"I tend to have panic attacks when someone throws a sizable spanner into the works." Lelouch joked. "Of course, for my plan to work, I intend to throw the biggest spanner of them all."
"You always knew how to ask for a favour." Suzaku sighed, before standing upright.
Lelouch turned around and charged a psywave.
He launched it as Suzaku punched him.
He fell to the ground as Suzaku was launched into the fence.
Focus punch.
Lelouch used Recover, letting the pain melt away.
"Where'd you learn that trick?" Suzaku asked as Lelouch forced himself to his feet.
"I'll tell you on the way." Lelouch replied, walking over to his friend to help him up. "C.C.'s downstairs. We just need to pick up our last teammate and we're ready to go."
"Red?" Suzaku asked, taking the traitor's hand.
Lelouch nodded as Suzaku's clothes changed into armour. "I'm surprised." Suzaku said. "You haven't asked me to forgive you."
'That's because I don't deserve forgiveness.' He thought. "I've apologised enough." Lelouch said instead of answering Suzaku's not-question. "But I'll forgive you regardless of what you do."
Suzaku's shoulders shook.
Lelouch used Detect, but foresaw no malice.
Suzaku laughed at the sky.
It was a powerful laugh at the absurdity of the universe.
It was a laugh Lelouch hadn't heard in far too long.
"Unbelievable!" Suzaku shouted once he began to calm down. "You've slaughtered millions, lied, cheated, ruined lives, made people your puppets, and yet you STILL hold the moral high ground!"
Lelouch just grinned back at him, knowing the truth.
'That's because I do... In comparison.'
"Hang on a sec." Suzaku told Lelouch on the way down, running down a corridor and knocking on a door, then opening it.
"I'll just be leaving, sir." Suzaku announced, poking his head through the door.
What Is Mercy? Death asked, his voice shaking Lelouch so much that he was forced to come closer.
"To be unfair and forgive those who don't deserve a second chance." Suzaku answered.
What Purpose Does Death Have When There's Nothing Left?
"To care." Suzaku replied. "And to provide mercy when there's no justice."
Why Did You Muck Out The Stables?
"Because mucking out the world is a job for a shovel, not a scythe." Lelouch answered, pushing the door open and facing what he no longer feared. "Because horrible jobs need doing, but they need to be done by the right people."
That Is Incorrect.
Lelouch's eyes widened in surprise as Suzaku smiled. "Because Shit Happens." The brown-haired boy said. "Deal With It."
Death nodded with a macabre grin as Suzaku closed the door.
"Looks like I win." Suzaku smirked.
"For once." Lelouch replied, throwing an arm around his ally's neck. "Let's move."
Red stood amongst a white world as Sierra led Lelouch and Suzaku to him.
"Are you ready?" Mew asked Red
Red spun the hat onto his head and walked towards Lelouch. "Let's go kick some ass." He said.
"I'm coming too."
Everyone turned to the blonde young man dressed in dark robes as he walked onto the world.
#000
Wes
Dark/Psychic
The Shadow Pokémon
"Shadow Snatcher." Lelouch recognised the former Knight from his father's short-lived reassembly.
"Don't think you're the only ones who have a stake in this..." the ex-knight said, standing before them. "You're not the only ones who have been watching the heart of this world. We all are, in the end. Took the end of the world to get us to see it, but..." He shook his head and met Lelouch's eyes, Geass sigils flaring. "My Geass is that of Purification." He said. "I can see the darkness in people's and pokémon's hearts and take steps to purify them. I'm skilled in the usage of Shadow Moves."
Lelouch nodded, adapting the scenario to fit his new ally.
Then, in that empty world, it rained.
Lightning flashes across the sky as powerful sunlight filled the world that wasn't darkened by the storm clouds.
#000
Brendan
Ground/Water
The Genesis Pokémon
[
"A trainer and his party of six." Mew said, looking at Lelouch. "Could there be a better way to end this?"
"With a wizard coming in to save the day." Brendan joked, then held out a fist to Lelouch. "Well, I could do worse with Zero leading the charge, I guess."
"What?" Lelouch asked, bumping the fist gingerly.
"The bastard's your dad, but he fucked my memories and stole my life." Brendan told Lelouch. "Both the me before him and the me after him are dead, leaving me in the middle, so we're gonna play to decide who gets to kill him."
Lelouch smiled, then pushed the fist away.
"He's all yours." Lelouch told him. "I want nothing more to do with him."
Suzaku and Red's jaws dropped, and Sierra smiled knowingly.
"Are we ready?" she asked.
Mew nodded.
Wes nodded.
Brendan nodded.
Red nodded.
"For the sake of prisoners and the flight of birds." Suzaku said.
"What can the harvest hope for, if not for us to grant them salvation?" Lelouch asked, distorting the quote for his needs as he turned around. "Let's go, to hell we ride."
"Just a second." Mew said, reaching out for Lelouch.
He dodged
"I fight as a Code." He said, refusing Mew's touch. "Part of the plan."
Mew gave him a strange look, but submitted.
Missingno. laughed.
It was a dark, twisted, demonic laugh that shook hell a thousand times over.
'M. h POKé. O+. .4. Rainer. PkMnaPkMnfPkMnk. He said in his impossible tongue. We have a battle to wage.
His subordinates abandoned their duties and walked to their master.
For the sake of prisoner's and the flight of birds. Missingno. laughed. The harvest has no hope, for the harvester is but a scythe in the hands of an uncaring master.
The battle of humans and daemons shall be fought as Pokémon. He laughed as Lelouch returned to face him. You amuse me no end.
Lelouch glared into the eyes of Missingno. as his allies stared down the spawn of Chaos.
Lelouch stepped forward.
Missingno. did the same.
Fair game? Missingno. asked, offering his hand to shake.
Lelouch took it.
"Not a chance in hell." He said, unleashing his Judgement attack.
Not as a Pokémon.
Not as a Code.
Not as a human.
"He advanced his Code using Missingno.'s power…" Mew realised as light was absorbed into the dark sphere than eclipsed Missingno. and Lelouch. "That magnificent bastard…"
Missingno. roared as his siblings charged for Mew and the five Masters.
"We'll carry out Red Destiny." Red said, charging dark red flames into his hands.
"Kill 'em all." Brendan agreed, carrying flames in his right hand and ice in his left.
Mew, Suzaku, Red and Sierra brought their own powers into play and charged into the battle.
There's just one thing I need to ask. Missingno. told Lelouch, pushing the energy back with his own attack. How do you intend to take everyone home?
"Sure, I'll just reveal all my plans because there's nothing you can do to stop me." Lelouch snarled. "Do you think I'm stupid?"
Missingno. laughed. Man and demon! You are fascinating!
Lelouch brought his other hand back and rammed it into Missingno.'s gut, then drove his knee up into the demon's chin, before bringing his hands together and slamming his fists down on the back of his neck.
Then Missingno. glowed.
Sky attack.
Lelouch stepped back and blocked as Missingno.'s hands blurred and struck pressure point after pressure point, crippling Lelouch within seconds.
Lelouch glared at Missingno., and the beast stopped its assault, falling to its knees and coughing up ichor.
Pain Split. He recognised as Lelouch used Recover. You cheating bastard.
Lelouch didn't make a witty retort, choosing instead to kick Missingno. in the jaw, sending him back to the ground.
Missingno. laughed. Here we fight beneath the red sky and the black sun. he said. With the human race as our prize.
"Prize?" Lelouch asked. "What prize? This is revenge."
Red Destiny.
A strategy derived from the one command worth remembering.
Attack. Attack. And Attack.
Pick a target, and tear him to pieces.
Mew clashed with 'M, the pink spheres of power pushing against the dark claws of chaos.
Sierra leapt over O+, charging for her intended target, the god of war.
.4.
It roared, driving its axe through her chest.
As a ghost, she just charged straight through it and leapt into the air, charging a Superpower attack and ramming it into the beasts burning skull.
Red slammed an elbow into O+, going straight for the closest overpowered enemy. "SUZAKU, YOU TAKE BALDIE!" he shouted.
Suzaku had already torn a burning arm through the demon shaped like a bald man in a robe made of liquid stone, but it healed the damage and launched a barrage of grenades at Suzaku.
Wes brought darkness into his arms and slammed them into the massive beast that was h Poké. Scanning it with his Geass, he grinned. "You're nothing more than a big gengar." He realised, charging up a psychic attack to his hand as he held the beast close.
There was an explosion, and Wes was launched back.
CAN'T MISS WHEN YOU'RE THAT CLOSE
Wes snarled, but returned to fight.
Brendan held his arms out wide as lightning danced around the battlefield. Rainer laughed as a bolt struck him.
You idiot! Half of us are of the ground type!
Brendan grinned.
Rainer realised his mistake.
The floods came.
Lelouch slammed Missingno. into the lake of blood, taking the hits from the super-charged Missingno. as it came.
Interesting. Missingno. said as Lelouch leapt back to heal his wounds. You are certainly a pokémon, or at least a demon, for you have attacks. He tilted his head at Lelouch. Yet, I cannot decipher your weakness. Every attack I use you just shrug off and recover-
Missingno. let out a gasp of realisation as he pointed at Lelouch, wagging his finger with a smirk. Your ability is Filter. Super effective techniques inflict normal damage to you.
"So you can think." Lelouch said. "Impressive."
Missingno. laughed, then grinned. Well, giving myself the Mold Breaker ability should fix that- oh, you are good.
"You catch on quick." Lelouch glared.
Two abilities, one that removes all weaknesses, and one that prevents me from using my ability.
Lelouch didn't intend on him from working that out so quickly.
He adapted the scenario.
Lelouch raised a hand to the red sky, and it turned dark silver.
Doom Desire.
I see. Missingno. nodded. You never intended to save mankind. You just want us dead.
"You really do catch on quick." Lelouch spat as brought his hand down, slamming the sky of steel into his enemy.
Hell shook.
The quake devastated the prison that encased humanity.
All the lesser demons looked at the falling sky in fear.
In terror.
They understood what man felt that day.
A countless time ago.
Fear against an unstoppable force.
Fear against an alien strength.
Fear of an insect facing the end of everything.
The sky was falling.
And Lelouch was dragging it down.
Gut the animals. They won't feel a thing. You're all pigs in shit
You should just call your mothers out.
They'd be so proud of you.
As you celebrate human suffering.
We are privileged. We are all obliged.
Just go fuck yourself.
I am your sword of Damocles.
Get down on your knees.
Will you have mercy on us please?
Demon and human alike screamed.
Reality stretched under the sheer force of the attack.
Missingno. grabbed Lelouch by the back of the neck and dragged him back.
The Doom Desire was dragged back up and tore through the atmosphere as it tore through the red sky.
I have no room for your nihilism.
Lelouch grinned as everything fell into place.
"Where are the pokémon?" he asked Missingno..
It was a simple question.
Innocent enough, if you weren't aware of the weight it carried.
Where are the pokémon?
"The humans are down below, and you are having lots of fun making them suffer." Lelouch said. "But not the pokémon, why is that?"
Missingno. froze, and Lelouch laughed.
"You're scared." Lelouch declared. "Humans have the intelligence, the wisdom, the thirst for battle. Our limit is that our power is locked in pokémon, and they will only lend their strength to humans that earn their power."
He turned to face Missingno. "So why don't they suffer with us?" he asked. "Why are pokémon except from your judgement? Or is it that you don't dare?"
Missingno. was silent.
"You know that you can only keep us under your thumb because we have no means to fight back." Lelouch continued. "You strip us of our clothing, our homes, our weapons, our pride, and our pokémon, because you're terrified of what will happen if you give us a moment to stop and think."
Lelouch tapped his skull. "Guess what I did once I got half a chance to breathe?"
Missingno. laughed. You're so arrogant. Possessed by your own Geass, you're incapable of fear, aren't you?
He tapped Lelouch on the head. Let's fix that, shall we?
Lelouch felt the fear flood his body.
He felt his Geass die.
He felt the futility of it all.
He felt the reality of the chaos around him, the horror at his life lost forever, of everything he loved trapped in this maelstrom of horror, tortured beyond description.
And he laughed.
He just laughed.
"It's too late." Lelouch said. "The events are in motion. The demons stopped, and the humans heard my words."
"They're thinking. They've realised that there is only one thing stopping them from taking hell from your very hands."
Lelouch turned around and scanned the world, and locked eyes with one frozen combatant.
"MEW!" Lelouch commanded, Geass flaring with greater strength than ever before. "OPEN THE GATE! LET POKÉMON FIGHT ALONGSIDE MAN ONCE MORE! BRING ALL POKÉMON HERE TO FIGHT WITH US!"
The father of pokémon and mankind saluted, bound by Lelouch's Geass but driven by a wish for hope, the embodiment of the Power of Kings.
"YES!" he shouted, spreading his arms as the sky split open. "YOUR HIGHNESS!"
Missingno. was the only one that could open the gate.
Lelouch just needed to trick him into doing it.
The tear in the sky widened, and a gateway was formed, piercing the red canopy of hell like a light at the end of a tunnel.
Through the abyss, billions of pokémon fell through.
Pokémon found their masters, and with smiles, trainer was reunited with their partners.
It wasn't long before the spell of fear was broken.
Fear only lasts until hope is gone.
Hope was not lost.
Hope was there.
But not just hope.
Anger.
Rage.
Revenge.
Justice.
Hate.
Mankind had power.
And it was filled with hate.
And man did what man does best.
Destroyed and conquered.
Missingno. looked in horror as man and pokémon fought demon. His forces crumpled under the weight of the true rulers of the world, the vengeful, hopeful, terrified, furious, joyful horde of humanity. As one beast of chaos they crashed against the demons, devastating them almost without effort, toppling them from their pedstals of torment.
"All I needed to do was tear open the sky, and bring them hope." Lelouch said, smirking as the world below burned for all the right reasons. "Man was never meant to be defeated. Man may be broken, but never defeated. The word has no meaning to this species."
Missingno. glared at Lelouch.
It matters not. He said. So a war between man and gods is what you desire?
"No." Lelouch said. "This is a battle between pokémon and demons for humans, with the greatest demon of them all leading the side that shall take victory."
Missingno. glared as Lelouch raised two hands wide.
Fire in his left hand.
Lightning in his right.
The red sky turned blue as white and black clouds spread through the sky.
#000
Lelouch
Fire/Electric
The Lightbringer Pokémon
Red smashed O+ to the ground as chaos raged around him. "You see that?" he laughed. "That's my brother up there."
This is wonderful! This pain! This anarchy!
Red punched her face in.
"Double Normal type." He realised, seeing how much damage a simple Fighting attack did. "Oh, this'll be fun."
Sierra slammed a kneecap into the burning skull of .4, and it roared in pain.
She swung over its shoulders and landed on the ground behind it.
She waved her fingers as .4 turned around, taunting it to attack.
The blood god roared, charging at the witch.
She drove a fist into its gut- a sucker punch that tore through its bloody frenzy and brought soul eater to its knees.
Suzaku leapt around the demon, leaning under a hyperbeam that tore through another demon's chest.
This monster's name was unpronounceable to the human tongue, but its power was equal to that of Arceus.
He wasn't going to do this alone.
A massive, black claw drove the beat to the ground.
Darkrai.
"EUPHIE!" Suzaku shouted.
His princess was standing behind his enemy, an arm outstretched as she forced her nightmares to bring the monster down.
She smiled through the pain, and Darkrai roared, feeding off of her fear and pain and wiping it away.
Suzaku nodded, then leapt for the fallen enemy, prepared to finish it in one blow.
"Shadowblast." Wes declared, launching a blast of dark wind at the massive monster.
It tore through its pathetic defences, ripping the massive beast to shreds.
Wes didn't even give it a chance to recover the damage as he blazed into the carnage with an axe, hacking his way through the flesh and burning the beast alive.
Brendan smashed Rainer through the wall and he found his target.
Emperor Charles Zi Britannia, chained and bleeding to the wall.
"I remember." He said, tossing the bloody and beaten Rainer aside. "I remember everything."
He leant in and whispered into the man's ear. "I know what you did, you bastard."
He stood up and laughed. "You know I offered him the chance to kill you himself?" Brendan asked. "He said he couldn't be arsed. You're not worth his time."
He smirked at the anger on the Emperor's face, but the old man was lacking a jaw or a tongue with which to voice it. "You know what the funniest thing is?" Brendan asked him. "You did all this, destroyed the world, enslaved the human race, and put yourself through hell just so he would suffer, and he's using that to his advantage. He's taking everything you've done and he's spinning it to turn himself into a messiah."
The Emperor's hate melted into horror.
"That's right." Brendan laughed. "Thanks to your actions, your son Lelouch is now the god of the new world. And it will be a new world." He said. "We will win this war. We will drive the demons from hell and rebuild a new earth for all humans and pokémon to live in harmony, destroying everything you ever worked towards."
Brendan spat. "I thought I'd enjoy this." He said. "Watching you suffer in the knowledge that everything you ever wished for will never come true, but it just tastes bad. All I'm doing is torturing a lonely old man who'll die alone and unloved. I'm no better than these bastards."
Brendan looked away and raised an arm.
Stone rose through the wall, tearing through the Emperor's head, killing him instantly.
"I can see why he said you weren't worth his time." Brendan said, storming back into the battle. "You were barely worth mine."
Mew threw 'M down. "You see this?" he asked. "This was why I kept your worlds separate." He said. "It was for your sakes. That which is not can never hope to last against that which is."
We Are.
"No, you are not." Mew said sadly. "And that's the truth. You're nothing, an accident, and I'm sorry." He said, raising his hand into a finishing blow, correcting the error of 'M's nonexistence after an impossibly painful eternity. "I am so, so sorry."
"The gauntlet has been thrown down, and tonight we burn." Lelouch laughed. "For behold, the foul beast has risen from the abyss, ten horns on its seven heads, its cup brimming with all manner of sins and abominations. It has the appearance of a child but speaks as giratina itself." He let his head fall and glared Missingno. in the eye. "You started this. You destroyed our world. And now you shall face our Armageddon."
Two great behemoths flew through the sky- Reshiram and Zekrom.
Light and Darkness.
"Peace and War." Lelouch finished. "Man and Pokémon."
Reality and Nightmare.
"You are an error." Lelouch of the Rebellion told Missingno. as the war below was won. "And we shall end you."
You are nothing, human.
"I AM ZERO!" Lelouch roared as war broke out below him. "I AM EVERYTHING AND I AM NOTHING! I STAND WITH ALL THOSE WHO HAVE NO POWER TO DEFEND THEMSELVES! REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY BE HUMAN OR POKÉMON!"
"Your cowardly acts were atrocities, a wanton, meaningless act, so I passed judgement." Lelouch said, taking a breath. "I will not stand by and let such cruelty be carried out, so your race shall pay for their actions."
"I will not refuse to fight." Lelouch continued. "Rather, a battle is such a thing of honour and pride! But will I tolerate a one-sided massacre of the weak by the strong? NO!"
"The only ones who should kill are those who are prepared to be killed!" The Lightbringer preached. "When those with power attack the powerless, we shall appear again, no matter how mighty or formidable our foe may be!"
"You with power." Lelouch warned, flicking his left hand out as it burst into flame. "FEAR US! Those without power…" He flicked his right arm as it burst into flame. "JOIN US! WE! THE HUMAN RACE! SHALL TAKE! THIS! WORLD!"
-}+{-
And that's the truth.
You cannot keep us down. Not for long, at any rate.
Once the spell is broken and we are given strength, we will fight.
And we will conquer.